The needs of the people who will be using the building
The structural needs of the building itself
The context in wich the building is placed
As you can see, these needs represent a real challenge to an architect because he/she have to take care of a lot of things that limitates his/her work. That's what makes architecture so difficult but yet beatifull.
"Needs are dynamic"
Normally a building is designed with a purpose of use, but there's no guarantee that this purpose will remain the same. It also happens with the context, so the architect's design must go further the use and keep the essence of the idea towards the changes.
Parthenon as a Greek Temple
Parthenon after military use of Romans
What about Urban Planners?
Urban planners face very similar needs to the ones of architects, the difference is that as their work isn't just a building but a whole city (or a part of it), the areas of "needs" mentioned for architects are way bigger. It's like imagining the city as a huge building wich is used by people and placed in a context just like a single building designed by an architect.
Concerning to structure, I personally think that as urban planners are mainly organization designers their structures are basically buildings designed by other people. Urban planners have the big responsability of making it all work together in something that changes so much as it is the city.
Needs Architects and Urban Planners have to consider.
According to Ching (listen to this podcast: http://cities-buildings.podOmatic.com/entry/2007-01-09T19_51_26-08_00), there are three areas of "needs" that architects need to consider while developing a design:
As you can see, these needs represent a real challenge to an architect because he/she have to take care of a lot of things that limitates his/her work. That's what makes architecture so difficult but yet beatifull.
"Needs are dynamic"
Normally a building is designed with a purpose of use, but there's no guarantee that this purpose will remain the same. It also happens with the context, so the architect's design must go further the use and keep the essence of the idea towards the changes.
What about Urban Planners?
Urban planners face very similar needs to the ones of architects, the difference is that as their work isn't just a building but a whole city (or a part of it), the areas of "needs" mentioned for architects are way bigger. It's like imagining the city as a huge building wich is used by people and placed in a context just like a single building designed by an architect.
Concerning to structure, I personally think that as urban planners are mainly organization designers their structures are basically buildings designed by other people. Urban planners have the big responsability of making it all work together in something that changes so much as it is the city.